Sunday, May 8, 2011

This Sounds Delicious!

Why did they stop making this? It sounds enchanting. And Juicy Fruit is terrible. (No, they're not the same, did you think I wouldn't check?)

This is a two-for one deal. The artwork was done by Neysa McMein. No, I don't expect you to know of her but she was in with the in-crowd during the 1920's. Yes, she was a member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table. Later in life, she went into portraiture and painted some of the most famous people of the century.

Apparently no one has written a biography of her which is unfortunate. I'm sure there are some fascinating stories to be discovered and told, since she had an open marriage and was considered a feminist. Update: Someone did write a book that had something to do with her in 1988 but since it's *out of print* now we have no way of knowing what's inside without spending $20 to get it.

At one time I wanted to write a book about the history of the bomb shelter. Did you know that the scientists in the early days of the atomic bomb thought fallout was a myth? Yeah. And the government thought you could stay in the bomb shelter and play board games for two weeks and then return to the surface where everything would be swell again. No residual effects from this nuclear war that just took place. They so did not have a clue.

So I did the proposal and I got an agent somewhat interested but the bottom line was being told "History begins with The Brady Bunch." Excuse me? No one really wants to read about anything that happened pre-Brady Bunch. Okey Dokey.

I get it. There's a small audience for a book about Neysa McMein. How about digital? Is it still a small audience? No, it's automatically a larger audience.

Old days. Someone walked into a bookstore. They browsed. No book on Neysa McMein. Oh well. It wasn't foremost in their mind anyway. How would they even know it existed? How was that researched ? Pre-computer.

New days. Hey, I just read about a glamorous party with the glitterati of Manhattan that took place in Neysa McMein's art studio. I'll type that into Amazon search and see if anything turns up. Bingo. There's the book.

It's perfect for digital.

So aren't you fascinated at how deftly I moved from California Fruit Gum to yet another indictment of legacy publishing? Me, too!